Vicious Minds Read online

  I shook my head. Why did they do that? Why was my mom pretending to be so nice?

  “Because they are afraid of each other.” She smiled. “Do you know they’re getting scared of you right now?”

  Scared of me? I looked around and all the adults were looking at us. “Why?”

  “Because you’re talking to me. I’m the scariest and most important person here. They want to know what we’re talking about. What makes you so important that I would take my time to speak with you. They don’t have to like me. But whenever they see me, they have to pretend to, meanwhile I’m free to do whatever I want.”

  “You’re like a queen,” I whispered.

  She laughed and nodded. “Sure, I’ll take that.”

  “Then I’ll become a queen too.”

  “There is only one queen of this kingdom, little one, and her last name will always be Callahan.”

  “I’ll be that then.”

  Her eyebrow rose, and she stood. “I doubt it. My son can’t marry someone so weak she’d cry because someone made fun of her mother.”

  “I’m not crying though,” I said, wishing I was taller so I could stand eye level with her.

  She looked me over and shook her head again. “You’re weak, like your father. It’s a shame, because you Orsinis used to be great.”

  Orsinis?

  “Calliope!” Mom appeared at my side. I don’t know what took her so long. She put her arms around me and looked to Ethan’s mom. “Is everything okay?”

  “Of course! I was just asking Calliope here if I missed something. She doesn’t look like she’s having fun at all, and I really wanted all the kids to have something they could enjoy here. She was giving me advice for next year,” she said simply. My mom searched my face.

  “Really? Calliope, there is so much to do.”

  I nodded, thinking of something quickly. “Paintball.”

  “See? I suggested that, but my husband said that you would hurt each other or end up shooting at your parents.” She turned to her husband who looked back confused. “Next year we are having paintball.”

  “Yes!” Their other son, Wyatt, threw his fist in the air and his dad smacked his head. “Ouch, Dad!”

  “Can you believe these kids? I haven’t even finished paying for this bloody party yet and they are getting excited for next year,” he grumbled as she walked back to him. A few of the men around him laughed. “Ungrateful little brats.”

  Once Ethan’s mom left me, the crowd focused their attention elsewhere…except for Ethan, who caught my eye again but I looked away quickly. When I glanced back, he was talking with his brother.

  “Was that all she asked you, Calliope?” my mom asked me. Her voice was soft, but she seemed…angry? No. She was scared. I could see it in her eyes. She was terrified. I’d never seen that before. She held my arms too tightly, and it hurt. My dad joined us with my sisters in tow and they were frowning, upset that I was making us leave.

  “Yeah. That’s all she asked,” I lied.

  She nodded, and we all started to walk out, but I glanced back to them, the family in white. Ethan’s mom wrapped her arms around him and messed his hair. He tried to get away, but she just held on tighter, giving him a big kiss. When he broke away, he wiped his face before going to his brother. It was then that his mom looked at me with a big smile on her face. Melody waved her hands at me and it made me cold. It kind of felt like she was teasing me. The last thing I saw before doors closed was her husband wrap his arms around her waist.

  Just like that the fairytale was over.

  * * *

  ETHAN - AGE 9

  Chicago, Illinois

  July 28th

  It didn’t make sense.

  My mom made an excuse for talking to the girl who was hiding behind her parents this whole time, and it didn’t make sense. She had grey eyes and dark brown hair. Plus these small black dots on her face, under one of her eyes, and the other by her mouth. There was even one on her neck. She reminded me of a mouse the way she just moved by people’s feet. She didn’t really do anything so why was my mom talking to her? And lying?

  Dona had asked for painting and a table filled with cakes and candy. Wyatt said he wanted to either have rock climbing or a pool party because one of friends already had a paintball party. That’s why we didn’t have one for their birthday. That’s how I knew it was a lie. Plus, my mom wouldn’t care to ask why just one kid wasn’t having fun; definitely not if one of those kids wasn’t one of us.

  I just didn’t understand why. Was that girl important? She didn’t look it. So, what did my mom have to say to a mouse? Why did the mouse look like she was about to cry? I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  As I watched her family go into the house, Wyatt and Dona were already cutting their cake. So I crossed the grass, walking back into the house myself.

  “Allen,” I waved to one of the guards as he brought the gifts in.

  “What can I do for you, little man?” he grinned, putting the stuff down.

  I frowned. I really hated that name. “My name is Ethan. And can you go over there and tell Mr. and Mrs. Affini my parents want them to wait for their goodie bags before they leave?”

  “What?” He looked over my head at them as they were getting their things back from the butler.

  “Your parents said that?”

  “Yes, go tell them and get them the stuff…please.” I didn’t want Dad to give me another lecture for being rude.

  “Okay.” He glanced back out at the courtyard, nodding to tell the other guards to pause. I waited as he walked over to them.

  The moment he told them, the taller girls, the mouse’s sisters, started to beg. The whole family had brown hair, however her dad’s was lighter brown than her mom’s. Her sisters had that light brown hair, and the mouse and her mom had dark brown. They all looked so boring and plain in their clothes, as if they were background people in movies. Just there, sometimes spoken to or about, but once they were gone you forgot they were ever there.

  Mr. Affini nodded and all of them waited. While they did, the mouse started to do what she did outside, just looking around. Her eyes were different from everyone else in her family. They were grey instead of brown. Finally, she looked to me and I waved for her to come over.

  She gave me a confused look, her eyebrows coming together. When she looked over her shoulder, I wondered why in the world I wanted to ask her anything. I should just wait and ask my mom but that would take too long, and she might not answer.

  She pointed to herself.

  ‘Yes,’ I mouthed, nodding my head at her. She moved to ask her mom and I just turned to walk away. Never mind, she was hopeless.

  “Mommy, I still need to use the bathroom,” I heard her complain and stopped in my tracks.

  “Hold it.”

  “I can’t—”

  “The bathroom is down the hall and to the left,” I spoke, walking forward.

  “Thank you, Ethan.” Her mom smiled at me then tapped her on the back. “Hurry up, Calliope.”

  She frowned and looked around. “There are two halls? This place is so big; how do you not get lost?”

  “Calliope! —”

  “I’ll show you,” I said.

  “Avena, go with her your sister,” her dad said to one of her sisters, who just frowned, crossing her arms.

  “I don’t need to go—”

  He gave her a look and she kept quiet.

  “I’ll come too,” the other sister said.

  Great. This was dumb. Why did I do this?

  “Ethan, these are our two other daughters: Avena, a year older than you, then there is Bellarose, she’s the same age as you,” their mom said.

  “Hello, I’m Ethan. You can follow me,” I offered, turning and walking toward the hall. I walked quickly so I could get away from them all. When I made the left turn, I pointed to the door. “There it is.”

  “Hurry up, Calli,” Avena huffed. She had birthmarks, like small back dots on her
face. There was one over her lip and under her lip and then another right under her right eye.

  “Avena, look they have sparklers,” Calliope gasped, pointing out the window.

  “Your parents are so cool, Ethan.” Her other sister, Bellarose, who had cut her hair short right under her chin, gasped before running to the window. “Avena, look, they are giving out the bags. Why do we have to go?”

  “Dad said he had to go somewhere tonight,” the oldest one explained before knocking Calliope on the head. “Hurry up and go.”

  “I’m going!” she yelled and stepped back. She looked at her sisters as they practically pressed their faces against the windows before glaring at me wide-eyed, waving for me to follow her into the bathroom.

  I did.

  She shut the door and locked it fast, turning back to me but again her eyes darted all around.

  “Woah, this is just your bathroom?”

  “Yes, and I don’t think I should be in here with you—”

  “This is the only place we can talk though. You called me over,” she interrupted before putting her ear to the door. “Don’t worry about Avena and Rosie, they forget me fast, I’ll just tell them you left while they were watching.”

  “Don’t you need to use the bathroom? You told your mom you still… wait, is that why you were away from your parents before?”

  She was quiet for a quick second, staring at me before shaking her head. “No. Yes. But I lied.”

  “What?”

  “No, I didn’t need to use the bathroom. Yes, I told my mom I needed go, but I lied. I really just wanted to see your house.”

  Oh, she was answering my questions before.

  “Is that why you called me?” She frowned and then crossed her arms. “I thought you wanted to say sorry for calling me a mouse.”

  She heard that?

  “Why would I say sorry? You were acting like a mouse, hiding behind your parents.”

  “I wasn’t hiding.”

  “What were you doing?”

  She opened her mouth to speak before shutting it hard, glaring at me. “I don’t have to answer you.”

  “If you didn’t want to answer, you shouldn’t tell me to come in the bathroom with you.” Before she could speak again, I asked, “What did my mom say to you? And don’t lie; I know it really wasn’t about paintball. Why was she talking to you for so long?”

  “I’ll answer only if you tell me why you want to know.”

  “What?” I frowned. “I want to know because I want to know.”

  “That’s the only reason?” she questioned, coming closer to me and staring me down, her face bunched together like she ate something funny.

  I made my eyes wide and stared back at her. “Yes. That’s the only reason.”

  She laughed and pulled back. “You must really love your mom.”

  “What?” And I was kinda mad I kept saying that. It made me sound dumb. “Why would you say that?”

  “Well, you stood next to your mom before your dad. You only went to your father when she pet you on the head…that’s a sign, right? She pets your head and it means you can escape the grown-ups or whoever you’re talking to, right?” She was too curious and I didn’t know what to say…how did she know that? My mom and I came up with that for parties. “Now you came to find out what me and your mom were talking about. That’s why I think you really love your mom because you didn’t like that she was talking to me.”

  “I never said that—”

  “You didn’t look happy when she was talking to me.” Moving to a small couch in the corner, she took off her shoes and sat down cross-legged.

  “Sometimes people think I don’t look happy, it’s just my face,” I replied.

  “That’s a lie.” She frowned. “I lie a lot, so I can tell.”

  “Did you call yourself a liar? You do know that’s a bad thing, right?”

  She shook her head. “No, grown-ups lie all the time. Lying is only telling a story. If the story is bad, no one believes it. If it’s good, then people believe it. I think your parents are good liars too.”

  She was right.

  “Are you faking being a mouse?” I asked her. She bent over and picked up her shoe to throw at me. “Don’t!”

  “Stop calling me a mouse!”

  “I didn’t call you one this time!” I snapped back, and she paused.

  “Oh…well stop using the word mouse,” she muttered, dropping her shoe back on the floor.

  “I don’t have to listen to you,” I told her. “So that’s what you were doing? You were pretending to be quiet, so you could watch everyone else?”

  “Maybe…but isn’t that what you were doing?”

  She was right...again. That was weird. I never really met girls that were right twice. She was smart.

  “I am mostly quiet,” I told her.

  “Hmmm…I thought everyone here would be more fun to talk to.” She sighed and reached over, picking up one of the magazines to flip through. “It’s easy being quiet. No one asks you for anything and they forget you’re there. And once they forget you can listen to what people really think.”

  “And that way you can hear the truth,” I said, moving over and taking a seat next to her on the couch. “People can’t forget I’m there, though…”

  “Because you’re supposed to take over your family business.” She looked at me with questioning eyes.

  I stared back, and she just waited. “You don’t talk like a kid.”

  “Neither do you.” She shrugged and looked back at the pictures.

  “You’re not going to ask why I don’t talk like a kid?”

  “I already know. It’s because you’re not supposed to be a kid, you’re supposed to follow after your parents,” she said, turning the page and not looking at me.

  “You know you still haven’t told me what you and my mom were talking about, right?” I reminded her.

  “I know that too.” She flipped the page. Now I knew why Wyatt was mad at me…I did this to him all the time, didn’t I?

  “Calli, what are you doing? Hurry up!” one of her sisters said on the other side of the door. She stuck her tongue out at the door before getting off the couch.

  “Hold on!” she yelled, putting her shoes back on.

  She walked to the toilet and brushed her hair behind her ears. Right behind them she had two small black dots…more birthmarks? She took the paper and unrolling as much of it as she could, shoved it into the toilet.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Flooding it.”

  That made sense…not! “Why are you flooding the bathroom in my house?”

  “So my sisters don’t come in and you can hide. We’ll run away so we don’t get in trouble.” She was just tossing more and more tissue into the toilet. She even got a few paper towels and tossed them in. “Thanks for leaving me with all the work.”

  “Why should I help you mess up my house?”

  She held out a paper towel towards me. “You and me are in the bathroom together. My sisters will tell my dad and my dad will get very mad, and then it will make a big mess, and your mom told me she didn’t want anything to take away from her precious princess Dona and prince Wyatt.”

  I wanted to laugh when she said Dona and Wyatt’s name. But I got off the couch, taking the paper towel and putting it in with hers. When it was all finished, I pushed down the handle and watched as the toilet tried to take all that paper down, but it got clogged.

  “Finally, Calli, come on! Did you poo?” Her sister yelled from the door. I looked to her hoping she’d be embarrassed but she just focused on the toilet.

  “Okay, do it again.” She reached over and held my hand, flushing it once more. This made the water come up right to the rim.

  “Move back,” I said, pulling her behind me before I pulled the handle one more time.

  We both jumped back when the water started to overflow.

  “Calli?”

  “I’m coming!” She yelled at them and
looked back at me pointing towards behind the door. “Go hide.”

  It’s my house. I don’t have to hide… is what I wanted to tell her but again she was right, for the plan to work they couldn’t see me. So I moved and so did she. She stood right in front of me, my back to the wall, and smacked her face a few times. She looked at me, her eyes almost bugging out of her head and her big frown on her face, before asking, “Do I look scared?”

  The act she was going to do when she opened the door.

  “No…bite your lips more and hang your head.” She complied and I nodded. “Okay, now open.”

  She reached for the handle, but before unlocking it she faced me one more time and said, “I told your mom I was going to marry you, but she called me weak, and she said it like she meant it, so I’m going to get stronger. Next time we meet you’re going to call me an elephant.”

  I put my hand over my mouth, trying not to laugh. Marry? Elephant? What?

  I couldn’t ask because she already had the door open. She held it open just wide enough to show the bathroom and just narrow enough to hide me.

  “Calli, what did you do?”

  “I didn’t mean to!” she sniffled and I rolled my eyes. I didn’t tell her she needed to add tears.

  “We need to tell someone—” her eldest sister Avena…I think…said.

  “Please, Avena, don’t!”

  Yep. It was her older sister. Her voice was deeper.

  “Calli—”

  “Guys, it’s not a big deal,” her middle sister, Bellarose, replied. “They’re rich. Someone will come and fix it. Let’s just go.”

  “Rosie—”

  “She’s right, Avena. This place is huge. They have other bathrooms and they have maids. Let’s just go!” She rushed out of the bathroom and closed the door behind her. I turned my ear towards the door waiting to hear and it only took a second before I heard her shout, “I can’t believe we are leaving already!”

  I opened the door slightly.

  “Calli, stop yelling!”

  “Sorry,” she grumbled. I stepped out of the bathroom and found her standing at the turn, her sisters already further down the hall. She blinked and gave me a little smile, her way of saying goodbye, I guess, before running down the hall.